Malaysians Get Caning Sentence for Drinking Alcohol

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Malaysians Get Caning Sentence for Drinking Alcohol
Islam strictly prohibits alcohol drinking.


KUALA LUMPUR, June 15, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A Malaysian religious court has sentenced two Muslim brothers to six strokes of the cane for drinking alcohol in public, a legal first in the multicultural country, The New Straits Times reported.

The Shari`ah High Court in central Pahang state handed down the penalty on Mohamad Nizam Ibrahim, 32, and Mohamad Nasha, 30, on Tuesday, June 14, the Malaysia’s English language daily said.

The two factory workers who had been found drinking stout at a restaurant, were also fined 5,000 ringgit (1,316 dollars) each.

Judge Abdul Rahman Yunus said his ruling was intended to remind Muslims not to drink alcohol, which is forbidden by Islam.

“The excuse given by both offenders, that they are in the lower income group and therefore should not be severely punished, is unacceptable,” he said.

Lawyer Che Mastuni Muhammad, who represented the brothers, immediately asked the court to suspend the sentence pending an appeal to the Shari`ah Appeal Court.

The two, arrested last August, pleaded guilty believing they would be let off lightly, the daily said.

Under Section 136 of the Islamic Religious Administration and Pahang Malay Tradition Enactment 1982 (Amended 1987), they could have been jailed up to three years.

Unprecedented

Some scholars believe this was the first time the penalty was ordered against someone caught drinking.

“I haven't heard of this before because in many cases before this, the judge just imposed a fine,” Abdul Bashir Mohamad, head of the Shari`ah Department at the National University of Malaysia, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

But he said that authorities should clarify how they would put the hadd (fixed penalty) into action.

“There are no procedures in all the states for caning. They have the punishment but they don't make any clarification on how to make the action.”

Malaysia has a federal civil law system as well as state-based Shari`ah courts under which only Muslims can be tried for religious offences. The two systems operate separately.

Malay Muslims make up some 60 percent of Malaysia's 25 million population, the Chinese 25 percent and the Indians 7.5 percent.

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hehe i get a strange sense of guilty pleasure seeing people persecuted for alcohol use =D (probably due to my bitterness that alcohol is so widely accepted while cannabis is not) caning seems pretty hardcore though 8o
 
Does this law apply to only Muslims?

Seems like there is plenty of alcohol going around Malaysia.
 
yougene said:
Does this law apply to only Muslims?

Seems like there is plenty of alcohol going around Malaysia.

Malaysia has a federal civil law system as well as state-based Shari`ah courts under which only Muslims can be tried for religious offences. The two systems operate separately.
 
fruitfly said:
Yeah, caning seems like an excessive punishment to me! Besides, from what the article tells us, it doesn't like they got wasted and went on a rampage in the street. They were chilling at a restaurant drinking stout!

in some states in the US if they were just smoking a joint chilling at a resturaunt they could face similar fines and a year in jail.. im not sure which i'd rather face.. the caning would be over a lot faster but damn im sure it hurts
 
Randomer said:
I live in Malaysia, and alcohol is the last of their worries.

Yeah if your comfertable I'd like to hear a little more about the situation in your country
 
you know one thing that drug use has taught me is that you have to respect other peoples beliefs, but goddamn sometimes you just want to slap some sense into people. Even though I try not to be a "know it all" when I see someone doing something I absolutely know is wrong i want to punish them for it
 
yougene said:
Does this law apply to only Muslims?

Seems like there is plenty of alcohol going around Malaysia.

Yes, it only apply to the muslims. Shari`ah High Court only applies to muslims. BTW, the Federal court is stepping in and the Federal court has higher power than the Shari`ah High Court.
 
More update on this case.

Pahang Syariah courts’ dilemma
Aniza Damis

KUALA LUMPUR, June 16:
Syariah laws on caning may have to be amended to get the Pahang Syariah courts out of the twist they find themselves in.

Pos Malaysia "Otherwise, it is likely that we may not be able to carry out the caning on the two brothers," State Syariah High Court registrar Muhammad Azhari Abd Rahman said today.

He was referring to Mohd Nizam Ibrahim and Mohd Nasha who were sentenced to six strokes of the rotan each and fined RM5,000 for drinking alcohol in public.

The laws which may need to be reviewed is the Islamic Religious Administration and Pahang Malay Tradition Enactment 1982 (Amended 1987) and the Pahang Syariah Criminal Procedure Code 2003.

The NST today highlighted a discrepancy in a section of the Syariah CPC, which outlines the procedures for caning. Section 125(4) requires an offender to be jailed until his caning sentence is executed.

But the court did not sentence the brothers to jail.

Therefore, they cannot go to prison because they have not been given that penalty, and neither can they get caned, because they cannot be imprisoned.

"I don’t know why that clause was inserted, but we now find ourselves in a bit of a dilemma of how to interpret it," Muhammad Azhari said.

He acknowledged that there was no precedent for it, since this was the first time that Pahang’s Syariah laws are being tested in this situation.

"I will have to bring this up for discussion at the chief registrars’ meeting, and then it will have to go up to the chief judges’ meeting," he said.

There is no option of amending the Syariah CPC to accommodate caning without imprisonment, because this would contradict the Prisons Act.

"Since the people who will be doing the caning are prison officers, we have to abide by the Prisons Act, which requires that the offender be imprisoned," said Muhammad Azhari.
Source
 
so this is a seperate religious court that can impose jail sentences? that's crazy.

does anyone know the most severe punishment they can hand down (and hence the most severe islamic offence)?
 
It also says that these guy got fined the equivialant of $1,300. Thats got to be a lot of money for some poor Malaysians.
 
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